


books 'n stuff

by destielbooty



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, Hurt Dean, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Physical Abuse, bookstore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-08-24 06:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8360932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destielbooty/pseuds/destielbooty
Summary: Dean and Cas meet again after almost twenty years, and everything is different.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be really difficult to write but I hope you guys like it.

Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak had been best friends, for a long time actually, ten years. However, time doesn't matter when you're fighting. Dean has tried to make up, but Cas has been unable to forgive him. He understood it then, he had been an asshole, and said he didn't mean but were still hurtful. He has wanted that, to hurt his friend, bit later that has seem like the worst mistake of his life.

That's why he was surprised to find the man standing in front of him in a totally different city almost twenty years later.

"Dean," the man said politely.

Castiel had the same blue, shiny eyes and the same dark, sex hair he had when he was a teenager. However, rest of the pack was all different, and man, Cas had grown to be a hottie.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, and Dean was tempted to just demand him to talk more because that heavenly, gruff voice was as sexy as it could get.

"Uhm, I'm looking for Michael?" He said, and he almost flinched at how affected his voice sounded. He cleared his throat and tried again. "He works here, right?"

"Yes, he's probably at the back, what do you need him for?"

"He's my boyfriend, uh, we're going out."

Castiel made a face off surprise. No one could blame him, really, because it had been Dean who had accused him of being a  _fag,_ after all. He was so ashamed remembering it that he had to suppress a groan.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Cas finally cleared his throat and shook his head, getting into his polite façade again. "His shift ends in five minutes, you can have a look at the books while waiting."

Dean snorted. While being teenagers (and with that, friends), Cas was always the intelligent one, a bookworm really, it wasn't really a surprise that he had ended up working in a bookstore. Dean, however, was quite the contrast, books had never been his cup of tea, even if he had read some.

"So, Cas, how's life treating you?" he asked. This was still Castiel Novak, and he had been family for years, before the fight of course.

The man took a moment to compose himself and then he sighed, "good" he said, "now I really have to continue working."

"Oh," reality hit him. Yeah, Cas had been close in the past but now he was just another stranger so wanted nothing to do with Dean. "Yeah, right, sorry."

He was about to walk away to have a look at the bookshelves when a loud laughter was heard. A few seconds later, Michael was walking into the store from a black for at the back.

"Dean!" He said excitedly.

"Hey, Mike" he greeted his boyfriend and gave Castiel one last look. "Bye."

They were out of the store before Castiel could answer, and Dean just sighed and grabbed his boyfriend's hand.

"So, how was your day, darling?" Michael asked after they had been walking in silence for at least five minutes.

"Good, another day at the dinner" he didn't elaborate, but he knew Michael didn't want him to. Asking that was just his way of getting a cue to start talking, and once he starts, Dean just dozes off.

Castiel Novak. Man, it was crazy. He had never gotten the opportunity to apologize, half because ofhis shame and half because of Castiel, who had ignored him for the rest of their last school year. After that, they had lost contact and it had never bothered Dean until now. He now knew where the man worked and even if it was too late, maybe saying sorry would put his guilt to rest.

"Are you listening to me, Dean?" Michael asked.

Dean cured mentally but stayed silent. He didn't think lying would help, and he didn't want to risk it. Michael's hand tightened his to the point of pain, and Dean had to grit his teeth so he didn't hiss.

"We'll talk about this when we get home."

Dean answered affirmatively, as if he had any saying on that, he's voice sounded so small and he hated it, but he deserved what was going to happen to him, he should have been listening to his boyfriend.

"Ellen is waiting. That woman, I swear. She's noisy as hell. I wouldn't go there if she didn't have this kind of obsession with us" Michael ranted.

Dean liked Ellen, she was a close family friend and she had always been there for him, and she would always be. However, she nodded. Michael didn't like it when Dean didn't agree with him so he had learnt to keep his opinions quiet.

When they finally reached the cafe where Ellen worked, Michael opened the door for him, as he always did in public and then they walked in.

"Boys! How nice to finally see you!" Jo, Ellen's daughter, said chirpily when she saw them. "The usual table?"

"Yeah, Jo, thanks" Dean smiled.

For some reason, Michael tightened his hand around Dean's again. That usually meant he was warning him, but Dean hadn't done anything wrong, so he was confused.

"We'll both have cheeseburgers" Michael said dismissing Jo coldly.

Jo made a face but nodded. It was not a secret that Dean's favorite hamburger was the double bacon and cheese, but Michael had told him to cut off all that greasy meat, and he was trying to. Not that he had any options anyways.

"You sure, guys?" She asked, looking at Dean with a frown.

"Yes," his boyfriend snapped.

This was why neither Jo nor her mother liked him. He was always so cold with them, it sometimes made him come as rude. He was with that with anyone near to Dean. Ellen had told Dean plenty of times that he deserved better (even if they didn't know every detail of their relationship), but Dean was well-aware of how they were lying. Of course they weren't consciously lying, they did believe that Dean deserved better, but he didn't. He deserved exactly what he got, and that was someone who put him on place.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School is horrible. As whiny as that sounds. The thing is that I have no time and that is why I took so long to update this.

Standing hurt but he tried not to shuffle while he waited for the couple to finish their order. Once they did, he turned towards the kitchen and they started to why whisper.

"Did you see that bruise in his eye?" He heard the man said, apparently scandalized.

The woman didn't lose her time to complain either, "we're not coming back, Frank, he was glaring at me."

He had to suppress a laugh at that. Truth is that he has never glared to a client. His job was too valuable for that. He walked towards Benny and once he reached him, he huffed. "Stupid clients" he said.

"You look tired, brother" his friend said.

Dean hummed. "Didn't sleep much last night." Which was truth, but definitely not something he wanted to talk about. So he just cleared his throat and sent a pointed look at the table he had just served "fucking woman says I’ve glared at her."

"Did you?"

"No, but I'll make sure to do it when I carry their food. By the way, if you spitted in it I'd be so happy..."

Benny laughed loudly, focusing in the cooking food again. "You can do that if you want, but I ain't leaving any DNA in their food."

"Maybe your genes would ease that stick they have up their asses."

"Go back to work before I fire you, Dean."

He used to work as a mechanic but then Michael had started to whine about how bad that job was and how dirty it left Dean and how he didn't like that. It ended up with him beating and humiliating Dean to the point he gave up and quitted. However, Michael didn't want him to play housewife or anything and he encouraged him to find a new job. One that was far away from cars too. A week after the beating, when Dean's injures were better and almost healed, he talked with basically every person who would agree to hire him, and almost as soon as he walked into Benny's dinner, he was hired. He liked him. Benny was a good man, and he had turned into a great friend (one Michael didn't knew about, thank god). He never asked when Dean was bruised or when he limped. He knew it was his business and Dean was thankful for that.

"Sure thing, boss. Whenever I have someone in the line" he smirked, letting his eyes wonder through the dinner.

He turned to look at Benny, who was pointing at a table who had just been occupied. He sighed and nodded, giving his friend a glare and nodded, walking towards the table.

"G'night, my name's Dean and I'll be your waiter" he said, his eyes fixed in the pad where he was going to write down their orders. "Do you want to order a drink first?"

"I'll have a beer" one of them said, and Dean nodded, writing it down. "What about you, Cassie?"

"Just water, please."

Dean looked at those blue eyes for a few seconds before writing it down. Castiel was there, right in that moment, and he still had to apologize. However, he had no intentions on doing it in front of that unknown man. Who was him anyways? Maybe Cas' boyfriend? Hell, he hadn't been sure at Cas' sexuality when they were friends and he still didn't know it. But if he was indeed Castiel's boyfriend, maybe he could make up for what he did all those years before by just being friendly?

No.

He just couldn't act friendly with someone who would probably fuck Cas, or maybe be fucked by Cas. He didn't care, he couldn't.

Maybe he wasn't all that over his crush.

Both men were looking at him expectantly, and he cleared his throat, feeling unable to look back at Castiel. "I'll be back with your drinks soon, I can take your orders then if you're ready."

"That would be nice, thank you" the unknown man said.

He nodded and went to the kitchen with his heart razing.

"More rude customers?" Benny asked with a frown, "you know, brother, if you can't stand them maybe you should find another job" he teased.

"Ha ha, Benny. I can deal with them just fine."

He would have told him the truth if it wasn't about Cas. He was his dirty secret, in a way. He wanted to keep everything that had to deal with Cas for himself, as selfish as it could be.

He took the drinks to the table and placed them in front of each man, his eyes lingering in Cas'. Was he allowed to still call him that? He mentally sighed. Probably not. "Are you ready to order?"

"Yes. We'll both have the house's speciality," the man said.

Dean's insides burned a little bit. This man was ordering for Cas, what the fuck? It reminded him of Michael and he knew his old friend didn't deserve someone like that. He looked at those blue eyes searching for discomfort but he didn't find any, maybe just confusion.

"You sure?" he asked, green fixed in blue.

"Yes," Castiel answered with a little frown.

Maybe they had just agreed on it before Dean's arrival. He didn't regret his acts, though. He was writing their orders in the pad when the front door opened loudly. He looked up and saw Michael with red cheeks.

Oh god no, please.

He walked quickly towards him and once he reached his boyfriend he smelled the cologne. He had probably fucked someone before going there. "What the hell are you doing here?" Michael almost shouted.

"I'm working" Dean answered softly, not wanting to anger him even more.

"You call his a job!" Michael spitted. Dean decided not to tell him it was as noble as every other job was. "You should be home."

"You know I work late on Fridays, Mike" Dean muttered.

"Do I look like I care, you useless piece of shit?"

Dean closed his eyes and sighed. "Come on, we'll go home" he said, already feeling the sting at the back of his eyes. "Just let me grab my coat, okay? I'll meet you outside."

"If you aren't outside in three minutes I'll come in again and take you out by force."

Just like you take everything.

He nodded and took a deep breath. He walked towards the kitchen without looking at the rest of the dinner. There, he met Benny's concerned look. "I have to take him home," he said, smiling sadly "I'm sorry Benny."

"Yeah, okay. I'll call Greg and you can take one of his shifts or whatever" Benny smiled softly.

Dean nodded and took his coat. "I'm sorry" he sighed.

He walked out of the dinner purposely avoiding Castiel's eyes and he didn't even turn when he heard a soft "Dean" mumbled by him.

He got out of the dinner just to find Michael scowling. He had a bottle in his hand that was probably alcohol and his eyes sent daggers towards Dean, making him shiver, and not in the good way.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the late update, really, and happy new year!!!!

Dean wasn't bad enough to not going to work, so the next day, he went to cover Greg's shift at 8am, leaving Michael a note in the kitchen's counter. When he walked into the still closed dinner, the first thing he saw was Benny. His friend made a face when he saw him and he was just left to hope Benny wasn't planning on firing him.

"We have to talk, brother," his friend said. He motioned him to the back door of the dinner that led to an alley, and Dean complied. "Who was the guy from last night?"

"My boyfriend," Dean answered, looking down. "Look, Benny, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know he was coming and I sure as hell didn't expect him to be drunk. I'm sorry."

"That's not my point, Dean. I didn't hear everything he said, but it wasn't all candy-talk, I'm sure."

"Well, yeah, he was drunk and angry. But I handled it, it's okay."

"You should have seen you when he walked in. You became a different person, brother. I'm just worried."

It was nice that someone was worried for him, Benny cared, and that was alright. However none of this was his business. He hadn't seem to care for him the last six months Dean had been working there and he didn't have to start now.

"You shouldn't be, Benny," he said, faking a smile. "We are fine. I am fine."

He was hoping to convince him, but the frown in Benny's face told him otherwise. 

"For months I thought you fought to make money, you know, to help with what I pay you, but now I'm not so sure about that. Please Dean, tell me he isn't the one that gives you all those bruises."

Dean stayed in silence.

"That son of a bitch," Benny growled, his face was starting to go read. "You are going home with me," he stated, with no room for discussion. "And we are going to the cops with this, that son of a bitch. He's going to pay for it.

"No."

Benny looked at his dumbfounded, frowning even more deeply. "No what?"

"Look, Benny, he's a good guy. Sometimes I do things wrong and he gets angry, but it's not his fault, I deserve it. We aren't going to tell anyone. If I hear you tell a single soul about this, I'll make sure to shut down your dinner and make your life a living hell."

" _You deserve it_ ," Benny repeats with a strained voice. "You think you deserve it."

"I'm going to work now, Stay out of my life, Benny." Dean points a finger at him and then walks into the dinner.

 

* * *

 

He is walking home when he receives a text from an unknown number. He's tired and just wants to ignore it, but he doesn't.

» Hello, Dean, this is Castiel.

He frowned. Should he ignore it? He didn't want to talk, and he was agraid of what Castiel might tell him. He didn't want to hear Benny's words all over again. And yet, this was the first time Castiel had tried to contact him, was it worth it?

After minutes of doubting, he decided it was. He wanted to apologize for being a jerk all those years ago. He wanted to see his best friend again. He wanted to be in his life. Maybe that last wish was a little too much, but he was willing to try to gain Castiel ll over again. He had to. That's why, before he even realized, he was calling that number.

"Hello Dean" came from the other line a few seconds later.

Dean had to take a moment, closing his eyes. He had missed that voice. Maybe it was because his tone was softer than all the other times they had talked since the fight. Maybe it was because he felt emotional after that chick-flick moment with Benny. Dean didn't know, but he felt like crying.

"Hey," he mumbled, his voice cracked a little bit but he found himself not caring at all. "How did you get my phone number?"

"Your boss gave it to me last night." Dean couldn't believe it. Fucking Benny. He was about to apologize and assure the man that it was alright, that Benny was stupid and that he didn't need to call Dean if he was uncomfortable (and judging by how he'd been treating Dean, he was uncomfortable about him), but then, Castiel talked again. "When I asked him."

"You asked him?" he asks, smiling softly.

"Yeah. Of course I did. I saw what Michael did to you, and it's twisted, Dean. I was close and I heard almost everything he said. You can't let him say those things to you."

Dean snorted.

"He was drunk, Castiel. Michael is not like that, if that's why you called you can hang up now."

"I don't know Michael all that well, but I do know you Dean, we were friends for a long time. You would have never let anyone walk over you like that, Dean. No one but your dad and he was almost abusive, so don't bullshit me and tell me he was drunk."

 "The only reason why I'm not hanging up is because this is the first time you've talked to me willingly, but if you really care, stop it. Drop the topic, man."

"Does Sam know?" 

Dean sighed. "That my boyfriend uses me as a punching-bag? No, he doesn't know. Nobody knows, and I like it that way so don't even think of it, Castiel."

"You are going to keep calling me that if I continue talking about it, aren't you?"

"I don't know what are you talking about."

But he did know. He just didn't feel like calling him Cas when they were discussing Dean's life. A life that wasn't Castiel's business even if he thought it was.

He heard Castiel sigh, "can you meet me at the book store?"

Dean shook his head even if Castiel couldn't see him. "I'm expected at home."

"Then maybe we can meet at the dinner you work at. Please, Dean, I would really like to talk to you face to face."

"Yeah, whatever."


End file.
